LG OLED

Only LG can produce OLED; a new display technology with a bright future. We visited their factories in Korea and got a glimpse of what the future of OLED will bring. We also have the first details on the 2016 models.

LG is all-in on OLED

At the IFA show in September one of LG’s top executives walked on stage with a message: Look around. Almost every consumer product has a display. Bits and bytes are intangible but displays are windows to the world. A decade ago, our screens were big and bulky; today they are thin, but still rigid, which dictates the form and the physical design of the product.

What is next? OLED, according to LG.

LG is one of the world’s largest electronics manufacturers, and LG’s display division LG.Display - an independent entity under the LG Corp., which also sells LCD and OLED panels to other manufacturers - is the world’s largest display panel manufacturer.

A decade ago, LG collaborated with Dutch Philips in display panel production but today the Korean manufacturer stands solidly on its own feet. The arch enemy and neighbor is Samsung, and LG is clearly proud of the fact that it has not only matched “big brother” in many areas but pulled ahead in terms of display innovation. OLED is the first new display technology with mass market potential since plasma and LCD. From a consumer perspective it might feel like the rollout of OLED is terribly slow but LG points out that they are in fact lowering production costs and ramping up production capacity much faster than what was the case with LCD a decade ago. The company is not trying to hide the fact it believes OLED is the future. LG is currently investing billions of dollars in the new technology, while slowly phasing out LCD. OLED technology can be characterized by many parameters. LG is emphasizing the "perfect" picture quality as well as the technology’s flexible, transparent and rollable properties. It is currently used mostly in TVs and phones but this is just the beginning, LG assures us. OLED can by definition take any shape and will pave the way for entirely new products.